Philosophical Disintegration and a Chance of Practical Philosophy

Abstract

The author interprets such an important regularity that while “philosophies of whatever one likes” (up to philosophies of work and recreation, dance and sport, sex and covenants, etc.) are acquiring unlimited “legalization”, self-re­flexi­on of philosophy survives the profoundest crisis these days. He calls it the paradox of the obstinate growth of trees as simultaneous with felling. Incre­mental deterioration of the very interest for mapping philosophy which had been regarded as a very important vocation of a philosopher from Antiquity up to later Moderniy is regarded as the mostly brute indication on this state of affairs, and various modes of irrationality in its division into the main fields (both in analytic and continental milieux) are demonstrated. While acknowledging that it is al­ready impossible to offer a good general classification of philosophical disci­plines whose overall scope of subjects approaches to infinity the author believes it possible to escape at least practical philosophy (the correlate of theoretical philosophy) which has had a sufficienty concentrated list of the main disci­plines from Aristotle’s epoch. He suggests a renovation of its list as well as also the substitution of the Aristotelean “governing science” (ἀρχιτεκτονική) as prac­tical judiciousness (φρόνησις πρακτική) by agathological teleology whose sub­ject could be human goal-setting in the context of good-setting. As a support from the outside the author attaches Indian scheme of human goals (pu­ruşārthāḥ) and an opinion of the Dharmaśāstras that human goals themselves can be justified by their participation in the good.